A Surfeit of Weather

There’s a saying in Alberta. If you don’t like the weather, wait half an hour. It will change. On this day of travel, I have to amend that saying. If you don’t like the weather, drive for another half hour. Sunshine, rain, flurries, deep snow, then sun again. It certainly holds your attention. As does the landscape changing from flat sepia prairie to cold green mountains then white. Renee and Tristan made me a good breakfast, then saw me off at nine. They’ve got dreams and yet a very practical nature. I wish them well.

I stopped in Nanton for a hot chocolate and a phone call. It’s 70 degrees in Newport Beach. Minus six outside the café. I’m travelling the right direction. Just outside Pincher Creek, I stopped for gas at a Mohawk station and met Fiona. Same name as the princess in Shrek, but she’s more reminiscent of the after-dark version. Quick smile and big heart, too. She told me of meeting a trucker from Virginia who saw the beauty inside, I suppose. Now, she’s looking at real estate in the American south online and looking younger than her fifty-plus years any time she mentions Mr. Virginia. Told me of a surprise visit he paid to her cabin in February. Just walked in one night as she was in bed reading a book. Her first thought, she said, was that the gun was in the kitchen and she’d be fighting someone off with a paperback. Not much of a weapon.



Then it was into the mountains and the snow. My poor bike will never forgive me. The back wheel sticks out beside the truck and quickly became encrusted with ice and snow. I tried wrapping it with a garbage bag, but then it becomes a sail that seems determined to take the bike on a different journey.
It’s a long drive to Rossland from Calgary. I don’t envy Gary making the trip all the way from Winnipeg. But here in his cozy cabin, I can understand the appeal. Snow everywhere, so the ski runs that are half a kilometre uphill from here must be wonderful. No time to check them out, however. June has a big dinner planned for me tomorrow night. So, a quiet night ahead in a cabin with no phone and no internet. Then a good sleep and a drive to the coast. Hope I’m through the worst of the snow.